The year was 1995. Tiger Woods won his second of three-straight U.S. Amateurs, Ben Crenshaw completed an improbable Masters win, and Mukilteo’s Dan Murnan lugged a large computer to Northwest golf courses, trying to convince them of the value of this new thing called the Internet. “The usual response we had was, ‘I’ve heard of the Internet, but I’ve never been on it,’” recalls Murnan. Working out of a spare bedroom in their home, Murnan and his wife, Amy, went from course to course, plugging their computer into regular phone lines and waiting through the slow, dial-up process to show general managers what the Internet could offer. Finally, a year after they began, the Murnans finally received their first bite. Willows Run GM Tyler Cox saw the potential of web-based marketing, and signed the Murnans to develop Willows’ first website. Cybergolf was in business. Today, Cybergolf operates websites for more than 800 courses in 47 states and five countries. More than just websites, they are fully integrated business tools, featuring tee-time booking, hole-by-hole flyovers and web- and e-mail-based marketing. In March, Cybergolf expanded again with the launch of GolfVite, a social networking tool for golfers. Managing editor Jeff Shelley estimates that at the time he joined the company in 2000, there were over 60 companies offering similar services. Fourteen years later, Cybergolf is the only one remaining. “From the very beginning, we envisioned one portal, Cybergolf.com, from which users could access hundreds of club sites from around the world, as well as news and information both from national and local perspectives,” Murnan says. All of that news — nearly 1,000 stories per year — passes through Shelley’s fingertips. In addition to writing much of the content himself, Shelley utilizes a vast network of freelance writers (including CG’s own Tony Dear) to provide content on courses, people and events from Bellingham, Wash., to Brisbane, Australia. In addition to Shelley and the Murnans, Cybergolf employs nine full-time staff — including Cox, who was so convinced of Cybergolf’s potential that after becoming the company’s first client, he left Willows to become its first full-time Director of Business Development. Despite its status as the world’s leading provider of golf Internet services, Cybergolf still calls Mukilteo home — though it has outgrown the four walls of the Murnans’ spare bedroom. “Dan will someday be recognized — if he isn’t already — as the person who helped pioneer the Internet’s application for golf, not only in the Northwest but throughout the U.S.,” Shelley says.